


Survival is a first and only.

by totallyKatNep



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Humanstuck, The Last of Us - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 07:10:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyKatNep/pseuds/totallyKatNep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is a battle for survival as nature claims its world back.<br/>Crap summary but this takes place in the same world as The Last of Us. It follows the lives of the Homestuck cast as they fight the hordes of Cordyceps infected and make and break bonds between each other. I promise some fight scenes, bloody and gross, and some real romance-in-the-apocalypse heart breaks.<br/>ON THE LONGEST HIATUS YOU MAY EVER KNOW...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Narrator: Explain how it all began

**Author's Note:**

> I have done my research and know all there is to know about the Cordyceps fungus. It's not a particually fun-guy to be handling with but I'm sure they'll be fine, well, most of them anyway.

Nature, however beautiful, wanted revenge. We had taken so much from her. She had given us life and we used to worship her and make sure that nature was never destroyed.  
Now our population was greater and wider spread than any other in the world. We grew like a virus through the soft tendrils of Nature’s gifts and took whatever we wanted without giving anything for the pain and suffering it caused to Nature’s creatures.  
Nature resorted to the last thing it could. She needed to reclaim her world and rid it of the black hand of humanity. For years she struggled against the onslaught of human and machine daemons with little success. Then like an epiphany the answer was found not by nature but by humans.  
During an expedition into the amazon rainforest, a young English researcher found an incredible plant that had the power of mind control. This plant was a vital part of the ecosystem it lived in. It prevented any one species from becoming too dominant in the ecosystem and endangering the other species. The plant would make the animal in question die by a whole nest or colony of the same species and cause the spores from the growth within the animal to kill all in a radius around it. There was no threat to any other species. This plant was called Cordyceps.  
Upon taking a large growth of Cordyceps back to England. It was exposed to humans every day for weeks. It grew, evolved, to infect humans with its spores. Nature saw this plant as the thing it desired for the mass extinction of humans.  
One night, on the twenty third of June, a young lad assistant was cleaning the lab when, poof, the spore pod growth exploded. The assistant was instantly infected. He lost his control over his body and staggered drunkenly up to roof of the research lab. The assistant’s controlled body fell dead on the roof.  
The days ticked on slowly but with each day another growth was rising from the body. On the early morning of the twenty ninth of June 2013, the three spore pods exploded. With the westerly winds of the morning and the dry air being perfect transport for the deadly spores, the town and surrounding areas were showered with the spores. All over those areas, humans dropped dead and began to grow the same deadly spore pods that the assistant’s had on the previous days. The infection grew and in country after country the Cordyceps slew and grew.  
The great extinction had begun.


	2. Karkat: Check equipment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat meets the first living human in months.

Seventeenth of November 2017  
1569 days since the start of the extinction event.  
Karkat Vantas was tired and weary. He had spent all day walking and going through houses searching for anything he could use or salvage. He’d been on holiday with his family in the country somewhere when the extinction event had started. They’d been clear of the original spore attack and had been attacked while going to search for relatives in the areas affected. Many of the less dead infected had swarmed them. His father was killed along with his mother and brother.  
He had been devastated by their swift passing and the horrible images that went along with them; he’d given himself a new name to distance himself from their memories.  
He hadn’t seen another truly human face in days. His worn and withered attire did little to shield him from the bitter November winds. Taking shelter within an old building was his answer to the knife like winds. Upon blocking and barricading the door, he checked his equipment.  
Gas mask, check. Rations, check. Shovel, check. Gun and bullets, check.  
Rifle pointing at his face, check.  
He looks down the cold steel barrel and into the face of his aggressor. The woman has long black hair and round spectacles that lowered the intimidation of her quite a bit. She gestures for him to stand with the rifle. He does so.  
‘You got anything good in there?’ She asks sternly.  
‘What sort of good?’ He asks back.  
‘Food!’ She practically shouts at him. He snarls and spins, expecting every runner in the town to have heard her, but there is no one there.  
‘Why the fuck would I give you my food?!’ He snarled back.  
‘’Cause I’m the one holding the high power rifle!’ She poked the gun closer to his face.  
‘Go find your own fucking food you fucking bitch.’ He stared down the barrel hoping that the trigger wouldn’t be pulled. The gun shook. Visibly shook. The woman fell to her knees and the gun clutters to the ground in front of her.  
He stares at the woman in front of him. She was visibly crying rather hard. He regrets his outburst now. He kneels down to her level and looks at her face as the tears make lines down dusty cheeks.  
‘Do you *sniff* still have food?’ She sounds bad.  
‘Yes.’ He rummages through his bag and pulled out two cans of ready-to-go spaghetti.  
‘You have this stuff!’ She jumps off the floor and grabs his wrist dragging him through to a kitchen looking room. There is a neat fire pit dug into the floor; in which a fire burns quite healthily. She takes the cans and opens them with a knife that was far from clean. He would normally refuse to eat it now for fears for his life but today he was just too hungry.  
The smell of cooking spaghetti wafts over the silent pair as the cans heat over the fire. Karkat thinks about starting some casual small talk and opens his mouth to speak but is cut off.  
‘How long have you been alone?’ She asks, eyes still on the food.  
‘About three and a half years,’ He says, ’You?’  
‘’Bout the same.’ She smiled but then frowned, ‘I lost my grandpa not long after the hordes started. I lost him then shortly after I lost Bec and now I’m alone.’ She is on the verge of tears and Karkat doesn’t know where to start helping. He puts a steady hand on her shoulder.  
‘I’m sorry for my outburst earlier. It was uncalled for.’ He is sincere and she looks at him with puffy red eyes.  
‘It’s okay. We all need to survive some way or another.’ For a moment to long for Karkat they simply stare into each other’s eyes. Only when the sound of Karkat’s stomach rumbling echoes through the room does the awkward silence end. She bursts out laughing and Karkat grumbles to himself about something along the lines of ‘fucking stomach’.  
‘I’m Jade. Jade Harley.’ She says between laughs.  
‘Karkat Vantas.’ He tells her.  
‘That’s quite an exotic name. You gave it to yourself didn’t you.’ His jaw just hit the floor. How did she know?  
‘Yes, I did. But how did you know?’ He couldn’t help but ask.  
‘I guessed. My last friend had a name like that.’ She smiles a knowing smile and gestures at the cooking food. ‘I think they’re done.’ Karkat could only agree. He was hungry enough to make him eat it raw.  
The pair eats their meal in satisfied silence, save for the chomping and slurping. When the cans are empty, Karkat takes the cans and tosses them as far away as he can. With no way to clean them, there wasn’t much point in using them. Not unless he wanted spaghetti smelling can bombs.  
He was about to turn and go back to Jade when the bush rustles behind him. He freezes. He hears the clicking before he sees the clicker. All he has to do is make a sudden or loud sound and he was as good as dead. He’d learned from bitter personal experience that it was futile to try and punch a clicker bare handed. He’d watched the poor fellow have his neck bitten rather nastily in half; gruesome.  
The clicker staggers towards him, turning its head this way and that searching for anything to infect.  
It draws nearer. And nearer. Co close he could smell the foul stench of meals long gone off.  
He moves to back away. He slowly backs away while its head is turned.  
Its head snaps round and there was a crack that shakes his eardrums too much for his liking. The clicker’s now headless body drops lifeless to the floor. He twirls and sees his saviour nimbly doing the bolt action on the rifle.  
‘Every runner and clicker for miles heard that shot and your just standing there because?!’ She shouts at him seemingly seething with rage.  
‘Well I was fine without your help!’ He shouts back.  
‘Just get a move on fuck-arse!’ She scolds him and moves back into the house returning moments later with two bags; yours and hers. She hands you yours and walks right out into the adjacent gardens. This is going to be a long trek.


	3. Be Rose Lalonde

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose, John and Dave are surviving together, however annoying they are to each other.

You can do that. You are now Rose Lalonde and boy are those two pissing you off right now.

Not too long ago, Dave found a flame thrower of all things and now he won’t put it down. You can’t understand why he likes it so much. Maybe if someone could read his mind…

\----Be Dave----

No can do, dude. Too busy having sweet fun with this sweet-ass flame thrower here.

\----Be Rose again----

You were explaining why they were pissing me off, thanks. John’s being a plank again. He keeps using up the supplies of explosives to make loud, smoky and zombie attracting grenades and bombs. He just doesn’t understand that if he just gave them a good beating with the hammer we wouldn’t be waist deep in runners right now; which, of course, you are.

Blood compliments your torn clothing now. It also covers it. Another splash here, another splash there and you don’t care because survival is a first and that’s what you’re sticking to.

John must have run out of explosives because there are no longer any explosions or runners being added to the almost overwhelming numbers. You decapitate another runner before nocking the next one’s head right off; blood fountains from the torn stump and you smile. That’s what you’d end up like if you hadn’t done that. It’s all on who acts first.

Dave is back to that shitty katana he carries around and although he calls it shitty it does a really good job of slicing zombies up.

All in all, you’re doing a pretty good job here. There is blood and gore on nearly every surface around including you three.

A runner makes a move for you head and you move to stop him but you fear you are too slow. The zombies head suddenly becomes squashed and the blood flies from the now crushed skull and covers you. And to top it all off, the eyeball lands directly in your hair and, ugh, does this smell really bad or what?

Another heads goes flying, the blood trailing behind in a splattered red arc. The numbers are slowly decreasing.

Five minutes of bloody gory fighting later and the three of you are trying to clean the blood out of your eyes. A bloater had turned up and John the bastard had stuffed a bomb down its throat and watched as its guts covered me and Dave! Gah, I still have to clean the bits of guts and body out of my hair and I swear I will get guts in his hair soon.

John gives you that cheesy look, with the slightly buck teeth out and your cold thoughts melt in your head. You can’t stay mad at him for long. He has saved you on more than one occasion. He walks over and takes the rag you are holding and carefully wipes the blood off the places you missed. He does this without saying a word. He reaches behind and pulls his water from his pocket and pours it on to the clean side of the rag before wiping your lips with it. You blush and so does he.

‘I’ll give you two sometime alone.’ Dave chips in before making a rather hasty abscond through the door not five steps to his right. Thanks god he’s gone. You can have some quality time with John for a change.

He leans in and you let him take your mouth with his. You haven’t kissed like this in ages. You let yourself melt in his arms while you take in the bloody smell that just smells so much better now that it’s on him. You make a reach for the hem of his shirt and, hey! Give us some privacy here!


	4. Be Jane Crocker

You are now Jane Crocker and right now you want to bake a cake. You’d never thought that you would miss the baking you used to do. Well sometimes you miss it and other times you would have resent it for not being quite as fun as the present. Being with these guys has really changed you a lot. For a start you are learning to handle yourself in combat and now you’re learning old style natural medicine with a girl named Aranea. But she does speak a bit too much. As does Kankri but you’ve learned to ignore his prattling.

But you cannot ignore that Jake is obviously hitting on you. Well at least you think he is by the way he is acting towards you recently. He was especially starry-eyed when you speared that runner on the end of your pitchfork and using that to drive the rest over the edge of the cliff.

That’s the other thing that’s been bothering you, what about Dirk? He seems to have it in for someone but not you. You think he knows Jake may like you and leaves that up to him to deal with but you can’t help but feel he knows. Maybe he knows that Jake is just a right man. Never backs down from a fight. And also has a nice arse but don’t tell you thought that.

But on too more pressing matters, you were interrogating a dirty and really sweaty survivor. He said his name was Elliot. But everyone called him Equius for a reason he would not speak of.  He also said that he was part of group who would come looking for him if they found he was gone too long.

Jake and Dirk had a quiet discussion about something. You watch quietly while they talk. After a tense wait with Aranea and Kankri they turn back and Jake had that all too crafty smile on his face and of course Dirk stays impassive as always.

‘We’re going tie this sweaty chap to a post and wait for his friends to try and find him.’

There are nods from Kankri and Aranea but they stay silent to allow Jake to continue.

‘When they do find him, we will make jolly good work of beating the blighters out of them and maybe getting some information and supplies out of them.’ More nods from the others.

Dirk gestures at a tree. ‘Tie him there.’ He says before moving to assist Aranea and Kankri in moving the sweaty male; his head downcast is shame that he gave such information away and endangered his friends. You feel a bit sorry for him, watching as he is strapped to the tree with the thick rope that you had found in that warehouse.

They finish and you follow Jake to your hiding place. From there you have full visibility over Elliot and can remain concealed. Now you just have to wait. And wait. And Wait some more.

You think you hear voices and Jake must hear it too because he is gripping his pistols tighter. There are many voices; all calling Elliot’s name. You glance over to where Dirk is concealed and to where Aranea and Kankri are. Elliot’s group came into view. There are five of them; all carrying weapons of some description. Jake moves beside you and you prepare to move.

You rush from the bushes and you completely hold the element of surprise but when you come to blows with them. They appear to just dodge and parry you; making no attempt to attack at all, despite the clear anger on some of their faces. Five minutes of futile fighting later, the two sides back off, each breathing heavy, and the one with the weird glasses steps forward.

‘If you insufferable pricks are finished trying to beat us up, we have a proposition for you.’


	5. Bad things come to those who do bad things to people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! Graphic descriptions of torture and violence. You have been warned!  
> If you're okay with it, however, enjoy!

They’d been trying to get into one of the warehouses when there was a sickening crunch. Now the thing that is on his mind the most is; pain, loud and clear. Coming from his throbbing head was a pain that he had a sneaking suspicion it was caused by a baseball bat or some such device.

His world is still dark; dark with a few little pokes of light, through the material, appearing like stars against the darkness of the rest of it. He must have lost consciousness because he has definitely been moved. The air is warm and clammy in here compared to the cool late autumn breezes.

He slowly feels his body regaining its senses; the warm clammy air, a strong stagnant smell of something rather terribly dead, the ropes that are a bit loose and the musky scent of a well-used sack. He shuffles slightly and feels his muscles cheer as the blood begins to flow to his toes.

‘You’re awake.’ A strange voice says not two seconds after he moves.

‘Eat shit arse-hole.’ Karkat tells the man.

‘Not a very polite way to start a conversation with your captor.’ The man responds in the same tone as before.

‘Get infected son-of-a-bitch.’ Karkat doesn’t want to tell this guy anything.

‘Hm, seems we don’t have much of a talker here. Let’s see if we can shift his tongue.’ This isn’t looking up. He hears a door open and then there are profanities filtering through to his ears.

‘Fuck-arse! Get your fucking filthy stubs off me! I will bite your head off! Hey, stop that! No, not funny!’ Karkat has only known that name for so little time but it easily distinguishable to him.

‘Jade?!’ He wished he could grab the outburst in mid-air and shove it back down his throat. The profanities and the struggling sounds stop.

‘Karkat?’ She sounds desperate and tired; much like he currently feels.

‘Shit. Jade are you good?’ He tries to stay neutral but his voice is too unsteady.

‘Fuck yeah I’m good. What about you?’ She replies; sounding much stronger than he does.

‘Fucking soaring tem miles high here.’ He says all tough like.

‘Tell these mother-fuckers shit!’ She shouts loud enough for him, and everyone else, to clearly hear her.

For a moment there is silence. Thick palpable tension like a soup clogs the air he is trying to breath. There is huff from the guys he was previously antagonised by. ‘String her up.’ Is all he says and then there are footsteps and the door closes.

‘You heard the boss,’ a deep spoken man says ‘string her up.’

‘No! Let the fuck go of me!’ There is deafening crunch and a man wails. That must have been his nose.

‘Fucking bitch broke my nothe.’ Yep that is a broken nose. The following smack resonates through his head as does the almost innocent yelp following it. There is another smack and another yelp.

Karkat’s blood begins to boil. He will tear the head off of all of these fuckers if he can get out of these strings. There is a pause from the blood curdling smacks. He hopes they have stopped.

There is unmistakable sound of a whip hitting flesh followed by the scream that hurt to hear. Whip after whip is all he hears for ages; that and the agonised screams from Jade. She told him not to say anything but he is going to go against it just to make them stop.

There is a whimpering from Jade and Karkat strains against his binds in silent rage. The whip is brought down in an arch that brings out an agonised shout from someone in the room.

‘Stop!’

Who had said that? He wonders about it and realises it was him.

‘We got a reaction from the rat!’ Another previously unheard man exclaims.

‘Karkat…no…’ Jade is barely a whisper. He remembers his promise and goes silent again. He feels a hand pull at the sack on his head. He braces himself for what sights await his eyes. The sack is removed and he wanted to rip them out of his sockets to prevent him from seeing this. Strung up, bleeding, bruised and crying was Jade. No amount of preparation could have prepared him for this sight.

‘Jade…jesus christ…fuck…’ He blabbers. His whole body slackens against his bindings. He feels them loosen against his wrists enough that after a bit of work he could slip them off. The big burly man with the blood dripped chin takes a step forward and whips her. She Squirms and struggles against the bindings she hangs from. After two more strikes, she goes limp.

The man looks to Karkat and gives him an ugly grin. Karkat smiles back at him. He seems confused for a second and just before he can wipe the smile off Karkat’s face the chair is up off the floor and colliding with his head. He spirals backwards and crashes limply into the corner.

Karkat makes a dash for the second man. The man is caught off guard and Karkat grabs his head and drives back into the wall. The man head smashes the wall with a thonk before being wrenched backwards and smashed against the corner of the table. There is a stomach churning crunch and the mans eyes roll back into his head as his brains begin the flow from the split in the side of his head. The grey matter mixes with the red blood to create a ‘goodbye lunch’ image.

With the room empty except for him and Jade, Karkat rushes to Jade. He has known her barely two days and he feels like he has known her for years.

He reaches up and begins to untie the ropes. The last knot slips and she falls bleeding into his arms.

‘Karkat…’ She begins.

‘Shoosh, I’m here,’ He holds her, careful not to put too much pressure on her wounds, and cracks like a man never should, ‘I got you.’

‘You got me,’ she whispers smiling weakly, ‘Don’t let me go.’

‘I never would have and I never will.’ He tells her before her eyes close and she loses all sense of pain as she slips into unconsciousness. He holds her to his chest and leans her against the wall by the door.

He takes the automatic the rifle from beside the pile of brains and blood and checks its clip; full.

\----Spectate the man in charge----

He sits in utter silence except for the light hum of a generator nearby. He revels in the peace and quiet as he goes over the day’s proceedings; capture and a man and woman, interrogate and torture the said man and woman before killing them to eliminate any loose ends. They would no doubt be dead by now.

There is a sudden burst of noise as a sweaty and bloody man busts through door.

‘He’s mad! Very mad!’ He spouts from his mouth.

‘Whom is very mad?’ he asks with all due chill, which is broken by a gunshot in the doorway and the slump of body hitting concrete.

‘Me. That’s who.’ Karkat steps over the dead man’s body and draws from his bag, which they had conveniently left by the room they had been kept in, a blunt, rusty knife. Without a word he stepped forward and kicked the table into the man’s chest trapping him between it and the wall. Karkat hopped onto the table and stood over the man.

‘This is for Jade.’ He said and wrenched the knife across the man’s throat as hard as he could. The cut was deep, jagged and utterly painful. The man tried to scream but his trachea was severed. His pain was forever contorted on to his face as his life blood drained from the jagged cut.

Wordlessly, Karkat got up and left; leaving behind a man whose last words were never uttered by his blood filled lungs.

\----Spectating a dead guy is pointless. Spectate Karkat again----

Karkat lugged his and Jade’s bags up the stairs towards the entrance of the warehouse. He had slain about thirty armed men in Jade’s name. He felt terrible and proud at the same time. He had once been the coward who strove to avoid conflict and had ended up in the thick of it. He felt like he could definitely survive now.

He wordlessly doused the building with their petrol and set it ablaze as he carried Jade’s bloody body to safety and somewhere he fix up these cuts. She lived and they died. In his eyes, nothing was better.

Karkat Vantas looks to the horizon of buildings and sets his sights on the building to be his base.

Behind him the warehouse burns and crumbles. A warning to anyone who was watching; no one messes with Karkat Vantas. And Jade when she recovers.


	6. Three in the morning on the roof tops of London

The moon rises low over the skyline of London. I bright clear pearl in the sky that does wonders to the broken crumbling buildings. There is a little breeze that wafts the dust slowly around the roads and smashed cars. Small nocturnal mammals scurry around the sheltered hall and offices of the building. Docile runners stand limply on the streets and stare at the walls and pillars. The greyed buildings throwing shadows that leap and grow with the setting moon; only broken by the shadow of the mouse that appears as a shadowy giant among the ruins. There is nothing but the sound of the wind and the pitter patter of little mice going about their business. Clickers wander aimlessly below; unaware of the docile threat above them that appears in the form of a pair of light pink shoes. The automatic rifle does not make a sound like it could. The clickers do not fall dead like they do when bullets rip them up. The breeze curls its fingers around her hair and tugs at it, pulling it this way and that. It turns to the scarf and again it pulls and with a last strong blow, the scarf comes loose and begins to leave behind the person it was once attached to. The pink and orchid striped length of fabric flutter and twirl in the breeze that stole it from where it was. Then like an arrow from the tensed string of a bow the slim hand shot out and grasped it from the breeze that had stolen it. The hand rewrapped it around its neck and sighed.

Roxy Lalonde was lonely. She truly was. Without any alcohol in sight it was tough to keep going. She wondered what her sister was up to; probably surviving better than she was. Is her sister even alive? No she can’t be dead can she? She’s too strong. Tears well in her eyes for the third time this night but instead of pushing them back she lets them flow.

They run in paths down her pale cheeks and drip into her lap. She draws into herself and wraps her arms around her legs and hugs them tight. She wanted to be with someone, anyone, and not be alone any more. She released her legs and pulled the scarf into her lap. Memories of her sister swarmed her and the thought of her dead or dying brought more tears from her eyes. The scent of her cheap perfume and that cleaning powder she used had all but faded from the scarf. The same scarf that she had hand knitted from bare balls of wool in both their favourite colours.  Where was Rose if she was even still alive?

They had been separated down by Piccadilly Circus and now she was on the roof a building not too far from Piccadilly Circus station. From here she could see the wind swept roof tops of builds old and new. The dulled gold ornament on the top of Saint Paul’s Cathedral glistened in the moon light and somewhere the London Eye turned as if oblivious of the extinction around it.

The roof top she sits on becomes worn and boring so she stands and clutches the automatic rifle in one hand before making a short run and a leap onto the next rooftop. As she had done a million times in order to get from place to place and not get caught in a pile of runners.

There was the sound of talking from below but passed it off as voices in her head trying to drive her crazy. They were, indeed, just voices in her head when she reached a hole in the roof that upon looking in, there was nothing but death and destruction. The grim sight of a dead body made her move quickly onto the next roof and the next and the next.

She sat down and sighed once more. There was an old fire pit on the floor below where someone had been previously surviving. She cautiously moved in through the hole in the roof and after a quick look round every corner, settled down and decided to let sleep start to take her captive.

It was light when she woke. There wasn’t a soul around yet so she could afford a bit of a lie in. She lay back down and enjoyed the feeling of not being on her feet all the time. After about half an hour, she began to get restless. She stood up, stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Noise was filtering in through the cracks in the walls. Voices. Just my imagination playing tricks on me, she told herself. She circled round and picked up her rifle. Moving to the window she looked out over the street. She sees movement at the corner of one of the buildings by the alley way.

People! I’ll scout them out and see if they’re friendly. She moves quickly across the buildings in her all too well worn trainers. She reaches the building beside the alley way and peers over the edge. Her eyes widen and she blinks. She must be being deceived.

In her haste to get down, she slips on the damp stone roof and spirals downward. There is whompf and then there is black.


	7. Rose: Rescue and reflect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while but I've been busy with school and my YT channel so yeah... Read on, dear readers, Read on!

Something just fell from the roof tops. Weirdly, this doesn’t surprise you, much the latter; you’ve been waiting for something to fall from the sky for a while. The thing that surprised you was the object that did. It was of humanoid shape and wore a very familiar item of clothing. You haven’t seen it since the beginning of all this. A little less pondering would do you good because it fell in the skip next to you.

You, John and Dave peer in unison over the edge of the skip. Inside, the person lies splayed out. They are still but they are alive. The matrasses in the skip must have cushioned the landing for them.

You look closer at the body and realise that this body belongs to a very familiar person. You gasp and John looks at you slightly confused. Realising you are in no state to tell him anything, he turns to Dave, who, unusually, has a slightly less poker face and more of one of surprise himself. He turns back to inspect the body once more and he to lowers his jaw in surprise.

This person, who had fallen from the sky, is your little sister; Roxy.

You are the first to react, swinging yourself up over the side of the skip. You kneel down beside your sister and scoop her unconscious body into your arms. John and Dave are right behind you but can only help by carrying the bag and automatic rifle that had fallen along with her.

‘We need to find somewhere to stay and make camp.’ You say.

‘Err, right, sure thing…’ John hurries off in one direction and Dave the other.

‘Why oh why did we always meet in weird ways?’ You huff at your sister. There have been many occasions when you have met in weird ways. Only a month before the extinction started, you met up with her after she catapulted herself over two gardens only to land head first in the pond. Another time she decided to crash John’s birthday party by switching the huge cake you’d made with a hollow cardboard one and burst out of the top. She’d waited too long and he went to cut the cake and sliced into her hand. The scar is still very visible on her hand.

John comes to a breathless stop, ‘I found somewhere dry and relatively wind free,’ he paused to draw breath, ‘it’s about a two minute walk from here.’

‘Good. Did you see Dave?’ You’re not to worry about him, he’ll be fine.

‘No, but if we wait for him here he’ll be back soon.’ Just as John finishes his sentence, Dave flies round the corner.

‘Rose, John, we have company,’ he shouts, ‘And they’re very angry!’ Fuck. Not now of all times.

‘For goodness sakes, Dave! Couldn’t you have waited to make new friends?!’ You shout as you turn to run.

‘Not really. They wanted to make friends with my guts.’ He chimed in his rather to chill way that was way too calm for the current situation you are in.

‘A lovely thought.’ You say to yourself. John looks pleadingly at you. You give in to him.

‘John, some cover if you please.’ He gives you a cheeky smile before he launches three small tubular objects over his shoulder followed by two more.

‘Fire in the hole!’ He calls to no one in particular.

The first three canisters go off simultaneously and there is a sudden hiss followed by a poof as the smoke bombs fill the alley way with thick clingy smoke. The second pair explode with an ear splitting bang. The smoke throws off the runners and the flash bangs send the clickers crawling; perfect getaway cover.

After a good minute or two of running, John slows to halt.

‘Here’s the place.’ He says shoving a door open. You enter into the building and see it is all he made it out to be; dry, out of the wind and zombie free.

With a sigh, you lie Roxy down on the bench that had been dragged in from outside. John is right behind you when you straighten up and begins to massage your shoulders.

‘Any reason why you’re massaging my shoulders? Or do you just want to feel me?’ You ask slyly.

‘Not really, well, I figured that your shoulders might ache after carrying all that Roxy.’ He says.

‘She’s actually lost a lot of weight. She’s really light now.’ You pause for a second. ‘Maybe we give her a good meal when she wakes. She looks like she could need it.’

‘Yeah,’ His hands slide away from your shoulders and they twitch when he leaves almost like your body needed his massaging. You force it to the back of your mind and concentrate on not waking your sister up; the rings around her eyes suggest that she hasn’t slept very well recently.

‘So,’ comes a voice behind, ‘What do we know?’

‘Well,’ you begin ‘I know that as of late she hasn’t been sleeping well and eating well.’ You turn to face Dave and peer over his shoulder. Behind him, John is doing a good job of not burning the canned beans and peaches.

‘Huh, right.’ He turns and goes to sit with John. You turn back and look once again on your sister. She has changed from the previous girl you knew. Dirt and dust clings to her short blonde hair and her clothes are covered in mud and a few splotches of blood. The only thing that appears to be in good nick is the scarf. She seems to have kept good care of it; no doubt trying to preserve the memories of you. You feel bad that you got separated; really bad. But it will all be fine when she wakes up with John, Dave and you.

You can hardly contain yourself when John calls dinner time. It is yet more beans and peaches but the combination tastes quite nice and both are very nutritious. You settle down beside the others and await Roxy’s awakening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't beg but comments please. I'd really like to know what you think. Also, thumbs up to anyone who caught the reference to TellTale Games' Walking Dead game ;) couldn't resist the urges to put that in.


	8. Cleaning of wounds old and new

‘I know it hurts but I have to do it,’ he says moving the rag back towards the wounds ‘try not to jump again, it will only hurt more.’

‘Okay…’

‘Good.’ He moves the rag back onto the wounds and begins to dab away the blood and the dirt. She winces but she doesn’t jump again. Slowly he makes his way up her body cleaning all the wounds on her stomach. He seems to be a good job of the ones here but he knows that wherever there is a surface on her body there is at least three cuts. He has to clean all of them to stop them getting infected.

He should feel better about it but the way she hisses when the alcohol touches the wounds makes him remember the pain she was in before. And that is something he never wants to remember.

Slowly he reaches to bottom of her shirt which, conveniently, was pushed up to the bottom of her breasts and allows him to clean the wounds on her lower abdomen without him turning into a tomato.

Upon reaching it, he stops.

‘What’s the problem?’ She asks through the pain.

‘I, er, didn’t know whether you wanted me to, er, clean your…’ He stutters

‘Clean my boobs? Yes, of course. I can’t do it myself.’ She huffs but it only causes her more pain.

‘Er, are you sure, because I’ll understand if it isn’t-‘

‘Just do it, you buffoon!’ And with that she reaches up and pulls the top right up to her neck. Karkat’s eyes fly wide open and he kneels there completely, and involuntarily, and stares. It is only after a mental slap in the face from his father, Jack that he stops his staring and politely whips his head around.

‘Karkat you arse! They’re only boobs!’ Jade huffs.

‘Yeah, I can see that! I just wasn’t prepared for this.’ He sounds funny to Jade, like if you hold your nose and talk.

‘Karkat? Are you okay?’ She looks over to where is head is. He turns back around with a bloody nose. He dabs at the blood still trying to drip from the tip of his nose.

‘Yeah, sure.’ He gives in to delicacy and wipes the blood from his face with his sleeve.

‘What the fuck Karkat? Why have you got a nose bleed?’ Jade has no idea what is going on. It looks like someone just punched his face.

‘This has happened before. I just have a massive rush of blood to my head and it comes out my nose…’ He trails off and Jade looks at him. He looks back at her and sees the cuts and bruises caused by the sadistic torturers in the warehouse. Shuffling, he comes over to her and, without looking at her in the face, begins to carefully clean the cuts on her breasts. Jade closes her eyes against the stinging.

Karkat thinks to himself that under any other circumstances he, as a young maturing man, would be delighted with this voluntary show of private business but right now, he was feeling just the opposite. He has to deal with Jade in tatters and him too shy to see a pair of fine boobs. Wait, did he just think she had nice boobs? Yes, yes he did.

 _Do you know who else has nice boobs?_ His mind asks him.

No! He does not want to think about that now. No way.

 _Yes, you know who. And just in case you thought you forgot, he’s a mental image to help you._ His mind sneers at him.

He begs his memories not to trigger anything embarrassing; he’s already made a joke of himself. He finishes cleaning that area and the cloth leaves her skin but it doesn’t re-join her skin in another place. After a few seconds, Jade feels a stinging upon her breasts. A sharp stinging like someone has dripped alcohol on her wounds. She opens her eyes and they come to focus on Karkat. He is bent over her with his head bowed, hair covering his face from her view.

‘Karkat?’ She says his name and he sniffs as a tear drips from the bottom of his chin and falls on her left breast. She feels the stinging again but now it is accompanied with an ache in her heart. He’s crying. Why? Was it something she said? Her mind begins to panic and she moves to fast for her wounds and she cries out and falls back.

‘Careful.’ Is all he says.

‘Karkat? Why are you crying? Was it something I said? I’m sorry if I forced you to do something you didn’t want to do.’ She speaks quickly and works at trying to comfort him with an arm.

‘No. It’s not you.’ He says as more tears fall on her.

‘What is it?’ She asks.

‘Well,’ He starts ‘You know I said this had happened before, well I wasn’t lying. I had a girlfriend called Natalie. We, we, we were spending the night together when this all started and she was mine and I was hers and we knew what we were going to do and she, I, we. We got separated when my dad came in saying we had to leave. I haven’t seen her since then and I, we, she…’ He trails of and the flood gates open and the tears fall unhindered onto Jade. She bites back against the pain but before I could move he continues, ‘I saw her go on alone. I couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t have survived. I failed to save her! I lost her! She’s never coming back! I watched her die! She ran and they chased her! I never saw her again…’ He finishes and Jade stares at him. She made a mental note never to mention this topic again; ever.

With his outburst over, Karkat slumps forward over her. Jade hesitates to move but thinks of her pain. She’ll ignore it. She grits her teeth and forces her body into action, pushing herself up into a sitting position before wrapping her arms around his heaving shoulders.

Karkat feels her slide her arms around him and he is about to lean against her for support but remembers that any pressure against those wounds will cause considerable pain. He settles for letting her embrace him as the tears flow freely from his eyes.

For a time they sit in silence, listening only to the light breeze blowing through the dust coated streets below the window of the borrowed apartment. Neither of them speaks. They simply sit there embraced by each other and Karkat simply says; ‘I will never let you go’

Jade looks at him, his puffy red eyes make his tired face look so worn and old that she would never know he is only nineteen. She breaks the silence with a light kiss to his lips. He moves to kiss her back but she stops him.

‘You need to wash my back first.’ She giggles and he gapes but somewhat begrudgingly accepts the terms and moves to sit behind her. The pain caused by the cloth on her bare skin is outweighed by the light in her heart and Karkat, he couldn’t be happier.

It’s a shame it’s a ‘zombie’ apocalypse, otherwise this would be perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehehe, boobs.  
> Karkat and his rush of blood to the head :) That's why I love being the writer I am.  
> Stay tuned for more 'ZombieApocalypseStuck'  
> -totallyKatNep


	9. Roxy: Awaken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxy awakes.

Her head is swimming. She has absolutely no idea where she is or why she is here. All she knows it that she had seen her sister. But then again, it could have been a dream or a hallucination or just her going mad. Or maybe it was both. Her mind is playing tricks on her; toying with her hope, that one day, she may be reunited with her sister. Now it was turning her hope into a distant dream, a false hope, because deep down, she knew the truth that she feared the most; Rose is dead. End of.

No she can’t be. Rose is a fighter; no going down without a fight, right?

_Oh yes, she is. You know it. Stop denying it. You know she is dead. She couldn’t have survived for very long. She can’t have survived this long. You have though. How? How have you, I, lasted this long? Huh, did you even think about it?_

She grips her head in an attempt to throw the thoughts away but it is futile because you can’t throw away your own thoughts. They continue to torment her with the truth; the truth that hurts to hear. Tears stream unhindered from her eyes and she sobs hard and uncontrollably. She sits upon the bed and weeps. Her heart is sore and it aches to beat it anymore. Maybe she should just end it. End it all. Be with Rose again. She takes the concealed knife from where she hid it and brings it up. She cries out Rose’s name and fights her arms to bring it down. She wins and the blade falls. But the blow never comes.

‘Roxy?’ Rose’s voice filters through the void that the world had become. Was this the afterlife?

‘Roxy?’ The voice persists. But with is a light. A light that shines so bright, that it pierces the void of her mind and floods her mind with the hope that she had called false.

‘Roxy?!’ Her eyes fly open. She swiped her head from side to side looking for where the voice came from. Someone is restraining her arm, stopping her from bringing the knife down. This can’t be the afterlife; she has not died yet. She tries once more to bring the knife to her heart but an impassable force is in the way. She looks to see what the force looks like. Through her tears she sees a face. A face that she recognises. A face that she been searching for. A face that is right in front of her and it’s real.

‘Rose!’ The knife drops into her lap and is forgotten. Her hands shake as she embraces her missed sister.

‘Dear goodness Roxy, what were you thinking?’ Rose puts her at arm’s length and inspects her tear stained face.

‘I was thinking you were dead.’  She wipes the tears that hang ready at the corners of her eyes. ‘I was wrong.’

‘Oh Roxy, you were always such a pessimist. I’m not dead. And I don’t plan to be. Anyway, I have John and Dave to help me stay alive. And now I have you.’ She brushes the hair away from her face and helps dry the tears. The is a silence while they simply look at each other.

‘Um, dinner’s ready. Anyone for peaches and beans?’ John asks breaking the silence. He looks over to Rose and Roxy. Dave is just behind him. They both look kind of tearful themselves, John has this adorable face he makes when things get just a little too emotional for him. But Dave? This is a first for him. Is that, is that a tear that just ran from beneath those shades?

‘Oh god! Dave! We didn’t mean to be to tear inducing.’ She gives an emotional smile at him and he ducks away.

‘Damn it Rose. What’d I tell you ‘bout pointing out my emotional side?’ He says removing his glasses and wiping his eyes dry before replacing them.

‘Ha ha! The cool kid has a soft side after all!’ John jokes and Dave courteously gives him the finger before sitting down and eating his meal. Rose and Roxy join the pair shortly after Dave.

‘So,’ Rose begins, ‘Where to start?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like italics... They're so effective...  
> totallyKatNep


	10. Negotiations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We catch up with Jane and her group from where we last left them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't updated this story in a while due to lack of time. I feel as though these are the characters with less development than the others so I wrote this not only to find out what is going on. But also so you get to know them better.  
> To all those who have said they are waiting for this to continue, I am sorry for the long wait and I will try and redeem myself with three chapters to make up for it. Enjoy -totallyKatNep

‘If you insufferable pricks are finished trying to beat us up, we have a proposition for you.’ The said person steps forward and confronts Dirk who, without question, sheaths his sword.

Another person steps forward and is about to speak but notices your tied up friend. ‘Elliot!’ The small-ish girl runs over and kneels beside him. ‘Elliot, are mew okay? We thought we’d lost mew.‘

‘I’m quite alright Natalie. They weren’t too bad to me.’ He then sighs and snaps the bindings that were holding him in place. You gape. Why hadn’t he done this before?

‘As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted,’ He motions to Natalie ‘We are scouts for a small community who are in desperate need of some more hands, and despite your outward aggressive manner,  we think you may join our surviving community.’ He breaths. He seems sincere so maybe he is telling the truth.

‘Haha! Sollux! They look just as dumbfounded as the last group we past.’ Cackles a thinner person with thick black hair and is she wielding a cane? Yes, that is most definitely a cane and a very pointy one at that. ‘If it were my choice, I have them hanged for their crimes against Equius.’

‘And that is why you’re not in charge TZ.’ Sollux states.

‘I have to agree with Terezi on this one.’ Says a taller girl who also has black hair and a weird glasses that one eye blacked out.

‘Will you just shut the fuck up!’ Sollux shouts. ‘You agree with TZ on everything; except when you are fighting. So you are no help at all.’

‘Since when did you get all up and grumpy? Is it because things aren’t going well under your negotiations?’ The girl responds.

‘I told you to shut the fuck up!’ Sollux turns and shouts. You stand dumb founded as the pair begin to raise weapons on each other but a girl with long black hair who appears to be holding on to a double ended pitch fork steps forward and interjects herself in between the frustrated pair.

‘Please stop you two. You are scaring them. They will not join us if we are fighting between ourselves.' The two look at her, then at you then, at each other and both lower their weapons.

‘Sorry FF, you’re right. You know what, you do the talking. You’re better at it.’ Sollux pauses but looks at your group and turns back to his and moves to stand next to the girl who interjected.

‘My name is Feferi Peixes. I am the real negotiator; Sollux is just the language interpreter.’ She pauses when Sollux shrugs and motions for her to go on. ‘Our settlement is quite large just over eighteen people. We are a tightly knit community with a goal of survival. If you would join us, we will feed you and help clothe you but you will need to do work. There is strictly no free loading in our community. Everyone has to pull their own weight whether that’s in maintenance or in farming. The work is hard but very rewarding. You will have friends around you and I’m sure they will be inviting.’

You look at her. She just said a lot and it is sinking in now. Before you can register anymore she continues; ‘What are your talents and skills so we know what to expect of you and where you can be expected to work.’

You look around at your group. Kankri is the first to pipe up. ‘I am an archaeologist and a biologist. I specialise in the study of modern history and the study of species’ anatomy.’

‘An archaeologist, huh?’ The taller girl says. ‘What kind of use does that have?’

‘I can accurately date the time and cause of death for most living things and I am skilled in the arts of modern medicine-’

‘I’ve heard enough.’ Feferi says stopping him. ‘Welcome to our group.’

The rest of her group turn and look at her with shock.

‘Why are you all gaping at me? We need a doctor and now we have one.’ They stop gaping and agree. ‘Who’s next?’ She smiles.

‘I’m a skilled in herbal medicine and natural cures. Much like Kankri but without the modern technology.’ Aranea is welcomed also.

‘I am a good mechanic.’ Is all Dirk says. He is also welcomed.

‘I can bake.’ You say no longer afraid of these people. Feferi looks at you before smiling.

‘I’m sure Gamzee would love help in the kitchen, welcome.’ It’s just Jake left now.

‘I can shoot. I can climb.’ She looks at him longer this time.

‘Yes, of course you can join. We are short of people to run the wall shifts.’

You all breathe.

‘Oh goody! You must follow us now. We will return to our base before it gets dark.’ The group turn and with the light fading, they walk away.

You group look to one another before turning and following. Maybe your chances of survival just took a turn for the better.


	11. The compound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The HASC (Humanities Apocalypse Survival Community) compound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't help but feels this should be in the previous chapter but I needed to break it up.

Two days later, with the warm confines of a now familiar kitchen and a familiar chef with you, you know that following this group was one of the best thing since you found your original group to begin with. Now you have somewhere to belong and a community to belong to.

They weren’t lying when they said the work would be hard but it is nowhere near as hard as wild survival.

Kankri and Arenea have settled in great. Kankri is already waist deep in work and so is Arenea. They both work in the medical department, taking care of the cuts and bruises to more severe broken arms and on one occasion yesterday someone had cut themselves rather deeply on a circular saw.

Dirk has been working with Equius lately and together the two of them got the final turbine and generator working and now there is ample power to go around.

Jake runs the wall shifts and goes on the exploratory parties to look for newbies.

And you, well you’ve been in the gardens and the kitchens most of the time. Feferi was right, Gamzee is grateful for the help and although he is high all the time, he does make a good stew and nice pies with the leftovers.

You are snapped out of your thoughts by a buzzing and a call from Gamzee.

‘Yo, cook-sis,’ That’s your name to him, ‘your cake is done.’

Yes! You almost forgot. You have baked a cake for the first time in years. And boy, does it smell nice.

You pull it from the oven and set it on the table. Gamzee comes over with the spatula and helps you remove the two halves from their tins and then fetches the butter icing you have in the fridge. He’s such a sweetheart. Carefully you spread the jam Gamzee made a while ago on the bottom half and then put them together. He then tips the bowl so the icing runs from the bowl onto the top of the cake where you spread it to fit the top. When the last icing is scraped from the bowl to the cake, Gamzee puts the bowl by the sink and you put the cake in the fridge to set. Soon you will have a very large cake to share between the citizens of your new home.

Apparently they haven’t had a cake in years because Gamzee can’t do sweet things. He either makes them too sweet or not sweet enough. But since this your favourite recipe from the good old days, you are sure that you got it right.

Now that the cake is in the fridge, you can go outside and do some more picking. Harvest has long gone but there are many things still left to be picked in the greenhouses.

They grow everything in these four greenhouses, from British fruits and vegetables in the first one to more exotic fruits and plants in the fourth.

It’s really amazing what they are doing here; renewable energy, food and water and defences to keep the infected out. They have living quarters in the north corner of the compound; this is attached to the farms in the east corner. Then there is the industrial corner which partially over hangs the river where the power generators are and then they have the services in the south corner. In services they store all the stuff that isn’t used straight away; food, tools supplies. Then in the centre of the compound there are utilities including the medical department. Kankri went barmy when he saw their medical compound. It was like it was his dreams come true. Sterile environments and work tables covered in everything a modern doctor may need. Aranea has been granted access to grow herbs in the spare greenhouse; she practically lives in there now. And best of all, they have a great kitchen. You really could be happier.

There is a knock on the door.

‘Come in.’ you call cheerily. ‘Who is it?’

‘It’s Feferi.’ Oh good it’s her. She’s the nicest of all the people staying here. She is cheery and smiley and raises everyone’s spirits.

‘Do come in then.’ The door opens and a grave Feferi walks in. ‘Oh no. What’s happened.’

Gamzee is by the door in a flash. ‘Yes do tell us sis.’

‘There has been an accident in livestock. It was a runner scaring the cows and they flattened the poor helper.’

Gamzee goes taught. ‘Which motherfucker got hurt?’ He is rigid as a metal post. It kind of puts you on edge. Feferi gives Gamzee a saddening smile and says quietly, ‘It was Tavros.’

Gamzee barges past you, out the door and down the street before anyone can stop him.

‘Does Gamzee know Tavros?’ Feferi nods.

‘Everyone knows everyone here but Gamzee had a special place for Tavros. This will be hard for him.’

‘Why? Is he… dead?’ Feferi shakes her head and you breathe.

‘His legs got flattened. He’ll likely never walk again.’ You put a hand to your mouth to suppress a gasp.

You stand for a while in silence until it becomes unfortable. You don’t know what to say.

‘How is that cake coming along?’ Feferi says lightening the mood.

‘Very well. It’s setting in the fridge.’

‘Good. We’ll dedicate it to Tavros’ recovery.’

‘Do you think he will?’

‘Why yes of course. He is a tough lad and your Kankri is quiet the doctor. We all have high hopes.’

‘Good. I’ll get right to it.’ She nods and turns to go. You can’t help but feel you need to say something.

‘Um, Feferi?’ You ask.

‘Yes?’

‘Thanks,’ she looks at you with a raised eyebrow, ‘For taking us in and for everything after.’

‘Never a problem.’ She smiles and leaves you to your baking and thinking. So much for out of harm’s way. Still seems that where ever you go there is always an apocalypse outside. Which, of course, there is.


	12. Not again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken me so long to update. I have been completely distracted by writing my new fic (Every decision has its consequences) that i have forgotten this one slightly. I'll make it up to you all though by adding three more chapters (including this one) for you to read.  
> Enjoy!

It’s great to see Jade back on her feet again, even if she is walking really stiffly.

Jade shares the same feeling. It’s great to up and moving. They’d been at risk from being in one place for too long and getting caught. But, despite the stinging pain, she was moving along quite well.

Karkat peeks round the next corner. It’s all clear. He waves Jade up and they cross the street towards the hospital building. Maybe there would be some supplies in there. Antiseptics and antibacterial would be great to get as would some food and cloths and alcohols. Yes, they needed alcohol since most of it had been used to treat Jade’s wounds.

They slowly make their way into the hospital building and listen for sounds. Somewhere in the building they can hear moaning, a runner, and behind that white blacked out door they can hear clicking. Not too much to- there is a large thump from above. Speak too soon; bloater. Damn. Better be careful, those things are dangerous.

‘Karkat. Over here!’ Jade whispers loudly. Karkat makes his way slowly over to her and looks to what she is.

‘I see it.’ ‘It’ was a large white cabinet that seems surprisingly untouched. It’s just a small one but by the looks of it, there must be many more around this place. It is also across a larger gap that Karkat couldn’t jump even if he tried.

‘Try and find a large plank or ladder. Anything that could help bridge this gap between here and there.’ He tells Jade and she nods and moves in the opposite direction to him.

After a few minutes of searching around, Karkat comes across a ladder that is going from ground floor to a vent in the ceiling. Hoping now that there is no one around that used this, he lifts it from its place and slowly, carefully and quietly moves it to bridge the gap. It fits with a few feet to spare.

‘Jade?’ Karkat calls softly.

No answer, where could she have gone?

He shifts his position and moves towards where she had gone off.  Moving round the corner of the corridor, he spots a shadow of a person. It was probably a runner. He should take it out quietly to avoid attracting attention. Sneaking closer, he stiffens as it appears to hear him. Raising his baseball bat, Karkat moves himself closer to the corner.

Swinging himself round the corner with the bat in front of him, he expects the crunch of bat on head but when is met with a similar force he is caught off guard and the other force collides with him. Falling over backwards he lets out a stifled shriek.

“Karkat?!” Jade exclaims as she lands awkwardly on top of him.

“Jeez Jade. Could have warned me.” He says harshly.

“You could have too, you know.” She returns.

Karkat sighs and rests his head back on the floor behind him. After a moment to cool off after the shock, he raises his head to look at Jade. Something has caused her to start blushing. His mind runs wild trying to put two and two together to find the cause of it. He finds his answer right in front of him. Only now, with the shock passing, did he notice how intimately she had landed on top of him. And looking closer he finds that he could see right into her cleavage. He groans and rests his head on the ground once again but now he himself was blushing. Spending a precious moment regaining his composure, he turns back to Jade’s deep red face.

“We can’t rest here Jade. Now is not the time.” He states in an as even tone as he can muster.

“I know.” She says deflating slightly. Seeing this he gives a kiss on the forehead and gently helps her get off him and to her feet. She then helps him up.

“I found a ladder to get across.” Karkat says after a pause.

“Great!” Jade exclaims excitedly.

“Shush,” He instructs, “we have to go now.” He sets off back to the ladder acting as a bridge.

Slowly he eases himself onto the ladder. It doesn’t move at first so he continues. Begging himself not to look down, he passes the midpoint in the ladder. Looking back at the patiently waiting Jade, he gives a small smile.

“It’s secure.” He says and continues relatively calmly over to the other side before turning to help Jade across.

“Come on,” He says, “Your turn.” She makes her way to the ladder and tentatively steps onto it. Going rung but rung she makes god progress across the ladder but a loud gunshot from nearby causes her to freeze up half way across. For a moment there is silence. Then an unmistakable roar can be heard from above followed by thundering footsteps. Jade, panicked by the now aware bloater, tries to quicken her crossing of the ladder.

The footsteps fade for a second but they return and they get louder. The bloater rounds the corner in mid charge, stopping before spotting Jade and Karkat and continuing its charge with renewed gusto.

“Jade!” Karkat calls as the bloater approaches their delicate position. “Jade, just jump to me! I’ll catch you!”

Hearing his words she shifts her weight to fling herself forward but when she pushes herself forward the unsecured ladder slides out from underneath her and falls away. As if in slow motion, Jade reaches a hand forward to grab Karkat’s but she only manages to brush her fingertips along his open palm before she is plummeting into the floor below.

The temporary wooden boards put there are weak and feeble and she crashes straight through them with a clatter before being swallowed by a sea of green.

“JADE!” Karkat cries at her. The only response he gets is a few rifle shots from below him followed by a loud explosion that pounds his eardrums.

Then, all is quiet.

“No…” his voice trails off. He shakes his head roughly forcing the tears away from his eyes. He had lost Jade too. What is his luck? Shit. That’s what it is.

No. He would not lose Jade. He had lost Natalie at the start and he had grieved her for days but then he had found Jade and his grief was softened to a bearable level. But now that Jade is gone, he doesn’t know what to do with his life. Reaching into his backpack, he pulls the gas mask from the straps at his side. He pulls it on and tightens the straps.

“Fuck it.” He says, his voice muffled by the mask.

And he jumps down the hole after Jade.

#### 


	13. Could it be, possibly, immunity?

“Did you just hear someone shout a something?” Rose asks her group.

“John thinks so.” Dave replies and John nods in agreement.

The hospital building was their only hope when looking for medicine and other useful resources.

Roxy had just shot the head off of a clicker that had caught Rose off guard and threatened to tear her head off.

After a frantic search to see were the bloater was they assumed it was all clear but amid the crack of rifle shots and an explosion they thought they had heard someone calling out. Whether that person was still with them after a bloater attack was beyond there telling right now.

“We should investigate.” John suggests.

“That would be the correct course of action.” Rose agrees while Dave just nods. Roxy heads in first her gun held in ready.

They make their way quickly and carefully to where they had heard the sounds coming from.

They round a corner into a small space with a large hole towards the opposite end. They are just in time to see a head disappear into the hole and when they rush to the edge they cannot see anything down there because of the spores.

“Spores!” John’s voice loud in their heads as they strap the gas masks to their heads.

“Whoever went down there has to be in trouble.” Roxy tells them.

“True. I suggest we find a way down to help them.” Rose muffles.

Fanning out to look for a way down, they find a barricaded stair well.

“Move it.” John commands and the four begin to tear away material from the hastily reinforced barricade. Feeling the strain against her arms as Rose shifts a surprising heavy item of furniture. John ushers them through the new gap in the barricade and they rush through onto the stairwell.

Turning on their torches the four starts into the darkness below.

They check the way briefly before rushing towards the green mist that was the hall way.

“Hello? Is there someone here?” John calls into the mist. There is silence. The group flash their lights through the green mist.

“I’m sure I saw someone.” Rose says shaking her head. “If we go in there I guarantee that all we will find is a dead body.”

They look at her after her words. But turn back to the green spores. Then, like a ghost, a shadow moves within it. Sweeping his torch over to the shadow to diminish it it comes to rest on a man and a woman.

“We got dudes!” Dave calls. And the others rush to him and watch with incredulous expressions as the man supports the woman towards with one arm over his shoulders.

“Help me.” The man says to them before he falls to his knees the woman, evidently with her weight supported my him, follows him down.

The four move to assist the couple and without hesitation they pull them from beneath the green sea.

“Um… Rose?” Roxy asks.

“Yes Roxy?” Rose turns to her younger sister.

She points at the woman’s face which is not wearing a gas mask. She thinks nothing of it for a moment but then it hits her. The spores. They’ll have infected her!

“Roxy move away from her.” Rose says moving to put herself between her sister and the woman.

“Are you okay?” John asks the man.

“I’m fine.” He strains “But my knees and feet hurt.” John goes to stop him but he regains his footing and stands in front of them. Rose subtly points out the lack of gas mask on the woman’s face and John and Dave both back off slightly both unsurprisingly startled by this revelation.

“What?” The man asks at their expressions and their change in attitude. But when he looks to the woman’s face he too goes cold. But it changes to confusion.

Now it was Rose’s time to be confused. “What?” She asks him sternly.

“She hasn’t turned.” He says.

Upon hearing this, Roxy brings her rifle to bear on the woman’s head.

“Woah!” The man calls standing between her and her target. “She isn’t dead yet!”

“But she’ll turn! She breathed in the spores!” Roxy shouts at him.

“No she won’t!”

“Of course she will!” Roxy shakes her head. “They always do!”

“Think about fuck-arse!” He curses at her and Rose and John move defensively beside Roxy while Dave goes for an aggressive postion with katana drawn and pointing it at the man.

“Look what we just came out of!” He indicates behind him, “Think how long we were under there! And the funny thing is, she hasn’t turned! That many spores could have wiped out a small town!”

Now that she thought about, he had a point. It would only take a few moments within a mist like that to turn any man into a zombie.

“Guys, I think he has a point.” Rose says and her group stare at her in disbelief at her words.

“On what world does he have a point here?” John asks.

“This one, of course.” Rose replies before gesturing at the woman. “She hasn’t turned and look what they just waded out of.” John was about to retort when he too, saw the sense in it.

Taking a sharp step forward Roxy ignored them. “Just because she hasn’t yet, doesn’t mean she won’t at all!” Rose puts a hand to her barrel and forces it down.

“Bring her.” Rose says to the man. And without turning to look at their expressions she walks over to a bench and pulls out a bottle of water. She motions for them to join her. They do and so does the man who was carefully carrying the woman in his arms.

Rose moves to the side of the woman when the man lowers her to the floor carefully. Kneeling over her, she tips her head forward and brings the bottle to just above her lips and allows the liquid to flow into her mouth. The woman swallows; a good sign. Wiping a little water across her forehead to clear the dirt and dust and inspect the forehead for the tell-tale signs of infection. Surprised she finds none.

With a heavy cough and a wheeze the woman wakes to meet Rose’s curious gaze with a spaced out expression.

“Am I dead?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one seemed fast paced because I wanted it to reflect their position in the story line.


	14. Are you an Angel?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the compound for this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always say that I'll post three chapters but I never do and I apologise. I always find that life gets in the way of the third one. But here it is. I'll allow this one to be a calmer one.

Giving a heavy sigh, Kankri finishes sewing the final stitches into place. He will live. However impaired he will be.

Turning to the other occupant in the room, he just sighs again. Carefully the other occupant reaches over to him and drawers him into an embrace.

“Shoosh Kankri, Shoosh.” The person sooths.

“I’ve seen too much today. I think I need a long hot shower and a good nights slee-”

He is cut off however when the other presses her lips into his and holding him there. For a moment he forgets everything that has happened today and is lost in the girl, no, woman he is kissing. Aranea was the last person he was expecting to make a move on him. He viewed her with friendship and thought the feeling mutual but it was so much more than that for her. He knows that now.

Being released from her kiss, she goes to say something but he cuts her off. “I know. I’m going to tell them now.”

He moves but she stays firm. “That wasn’t what I was going to say. I was going to say that you kiss well for someone so alone.” He goes to retort but she cuts him off this time. “And yes, you should be going to tell them. I will stay here to look after him if he wakes.”

He can only nod and quickly makes for the door and exits with a brief glance at the unconscious body on the table.

Aranea stands along in the room. She sighs and touches her lips with her finger tips revelling in the memory of kissing him only moments ago. She really should have done that sooner but there had never been a good time to do it; never the right opportunity.

Standing here, she tells herself, thinking about him will not get anything done. Even though not thinking about him is currently very hard.

She needs to distract herself from the memory as much as she would love to revel in it for hours on end. Busying herself in her herbal infusions that should help the unfortunate man to cope with the pain that he will feel when he wakes. Which he will, she is sure of it.

As if answering her question, a light groan resonates from the space behind her. Lifting her head from her pestle and mortar, she turned to look over at the table. The man has not moved but his lips are now partly open.

Rushing to his side, she places a finger to his throat to check for a pulse. Finding it without difficulty she relaxes. She calms down from the little panic she just had. She is just about to turn and go back to her work when the man groans again.

She sees that he moves ever so slightly and quickly steps the few paces to her work place when the man gives a light gasp before a louder exclamation of surprise. He hurts, it all hurts.

The pain of his legs hit like a speeding train and he screams. Aranea is caught off guard by the scream and stubbles but doesn’t fall or drop a drip of her medicine for the poor man. She reaches his side and brings the bowl to the man’s lips.

“Drink. You must. It will take the pain away.” Raising the bowl so that it will flow into his parted lips at a manageable rate, she gives a concerned look at him but he doesn’t notice her.

When the bowl is empty, she moves it away. He barely notices and his eyes are glaze over as the medicine begins to work. Watching as the relief floods his features, she thinks how shocked he will be when he finally begins to realise what has happened to him. His head rests back on the pillow.

She speaks now. “Tavros? Can you hear me?” When he doesn’t reply, she moves over to his side and pears over at his face and into his light brown eyes. “Tavros?”

“Are you an angel?” He asks breathily as if he can’t believe it.

Aranea smiles and blushes slightly. “No,” she says, “But you can think of me as one if you like.”

“You must be an angel,” He says in reply, “you have perfect blue eyes.”

Blushing deeper, Aranea looked away slightly, she had never considered her eyes very nice, they looked cold and were the right colour to match that.

Turning back, she decided to get Kankri and maybe Feferi before proceeding any further. But as she turned away, the man grabbed her arm. She jump slightly and turned to him.

“Don’t go.” He begged.

“Why not?” She asks calmly.

“Because if you go, the light will go away and it’ll be dark again.” There was such meaning in his words that she nearly shed a few tears. This poor man was about to lose so much.

“I must go,” she said calmer but more adamant, “I must get Kankri and Feferi.”

“Are they angels too?” He asks completely spaced out again.

She considers her reply for a few seconds. “Yes, in a way, they are.” She said.

He breathed a small sigh and his grip loosened on her arm and she pulled it gently free.

She took one last look at him to make sure he wasn’t about to do something stupid and then she slipped quietly out of the door and into the evening breeze that swept through the compound.

She knew where Kankri was, but she would get Feferi first. At least that way, Kankri would get as much rest as he could.

Rushing round the corner of one building, she ran head first into Jane.

“Aranea?” Jane exclaimed a few seconds before Aranea hits her  head on. They tumble down onto the floor in a pile of limbs. Aranea quickly untangles herself from Jane and lends a hand to help Jane to her feet with an apology before rushing off in the direction of the main building where everyone stays leaving Jane to question why Aranea is in such a hurry about.

Entering quickly but quietly into the main building, makes her swiftly to the room labled, Feferi Piexes. Much like her own name, it was a fake one to distance them selves from the loss they had encountered in this shit hole of a world.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked quietly on the door. After a few seconds there is the sound of a voice from inside, it is joined by another soon after. A few footsteps and the door clicks and opens and Feferi’s head pokes round the side of the door. “Can I help you?” She asks in a rather annoyed tone.

“Am I interrupting something? If I am I can go.” Aranea says quickly.

“Well,” Feferi says and from behind the door comes a voice that sounds instinctively like the one had first spoken to them, what was his name? Sollux or something?

“It’s Aranea,” Feferi says to the person inside, turning back to her she asks “What is it?”

“Tavros is awake.” She says quickly.

“That’s great but i don’t know why you bothered me about it?” She says back.

“Well,” It is Aranea’s turn to stumble, “I figured that you were the best one to tell.”

“That as it may be,” Feferi starts, “But it is great news. I shall a make an announcement tomorrow at dawn briefing to tell everyone that he has survived. Thank you for the news.”

“You’re welcome.” Aranea says.

“I will leave him in your capable hands.” And with that she closes the door. Staring at the plain wooden door, she lets her mind walk over the last few minutes and finds herself finding one course of action; wake Kankri and hope he doesn’t do the same.

Finding the door marked with his name, she knocks quietly on the door. There is no sound from the other side.

“Kankri?” She whispers through the door. There is a pause then a sound can be heard from inside.

“Who’s there?” He asks through the door.

“It’s me Aranea.” She answers. With that the door swings open and Kankri stands in the door way. He looks mildly annoyed but doesn’t snap at her.

“What do you want?” He asks tiredly.

“Tavros is awake and I thought it best to come find you.” She’ll leave out the bit about interrupting Feferi and Sollux.

“Okay, well, let me get some trousers on because I am not going anywhere with these shorts on.” He says turning back into his room. A few moments later, he is wearing his grubby trousers and they are marching briskly towards the hospital.

Upon entering the hospital, they hear no sounds. But then the sound of gentle breathing filtered through to their ears. Kankri moves forward tiredly and checks pulse and breathing but comes up short. There is nothing out of the ordinary here.

“Aranea, did you just drag me down here for nothing?” He questions quietly. She bites her tongue. “Ah, whatever. I’m awake now, I might as well do something.” Turning his back on her, he goes to sit in his chair.

“Kankri?” She queries.

“Yes?” He replies.

“Do you think my eyes are perfect?” She asks him softly while staring at the sleeping face of the man.

“Hm? Er, yes, I guess? Why do you ask?” He says turning to look at her.

“It was something he said,” she says, “that made me ask.” She pauses for a brief second, “ he thought I was an angel.”

With no idea what to say, Kankri simply looked at her. She stood looking over the man with her head bowed slightly. She sniffs and looks back at him. “What if it had been different?” She asks him, “What if he had died? Would he still see us as angels?”

Still completely bemused by her words, he thinks about it. He finely comes to a conclusion.

“Yes, because he would have been in the better place now.” He says.

Without looking up, she smiles and wipes away a small tear that had formed in the corner of her eye.

“Everyone he had lost would be up there waiting for him and he would have thanked us for delivering him to his loved ones peacefully.” It is a dark way to look at it but it comforted her and also him.

Looking up at him, she smiles warmly at him. “Yes,” she agrees, “You’re right, he would.”

After a lifetime of silence between them in those few minutes that follow, were too quiet for Kankri to bear. Breaking the silence Kankri stands from his chair.

“Look,” he says approaching her and resting a hand on her shoulder, “we’ve both had a long day. What do you say about calling it a night?” She turns to him to protest but he stops her with a finger to her lips. “There are more beds in here. We can stay here and make sure that we are here if he wakes.” That seems to satisfy her and she leans against him for support; as much drained as he is.

Guiding her over to a bed in the corner of the room, he seats her on the edge and plonks himself down beside her. She leans into him and he closes his eyes. After a few minutes just sitting there, Kankri finds himself being pulled down onto the bed. Settling himself next to her, he opens his eyes to meet hers. They are perfect; bright blue and vibrant. But they begin to close as fatigue takes her captive. But just before she falls asleep, she hears him say, “He was right, your eyes are perfect.”

Smiling as the warmth he brings her slides over her body she drifts into a pleasant sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Right. I must apologise because my posting is infrequent an often quite sporadic. I have my mind and my life to blame for that so instead of continually doing this to you, I'm going to pull a Hussie on you guys. Basically what that means is, I'm going to leave you with this chapter and you won't hear from me for a while. I will write this story to the end and then, when it's done, I'll release the chapters in a more scheduled way so that you always have something to look forward to and don't have to sit around waiting for the unknown date at which the next chapter will be published.
> 
> As for that, I'm thoroughly enjoying writing this. I hope you're enjoying reading this too because I hope you stay with me and look forward to the rest of the story. All feedback and criticism is welcomed and don't forget to bookmark it if you want to stay on top of the story in the future.
> 
> 10th December 2014: 413 hits update! Woop! My second most read story after "I love you too" and if you haven't read that yet and want to, here's a link; http://archiveofourown.org/works/1043676 . This just let's you know I'm alive and that the rest of the story blocking is complete. Now I have to write them. Have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! :)


	15. Coming to terms.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade wakes. A short and hopefully sweet story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap I am so sorry! I missed the date because I was busy with my old man's 50th that I completely forgot to upload this chapter. So I'm five days late but it does fit better.  
> Apology over! Next order of business; new chapters will be uploaded each Saturday! WOO! If I miss a day don't worry, I'll upload it the next day or fairly soon after it or you may get a pre-emptive chapter on a Friday because I will not be around on the Saturday.  
> So yeah. My apologies!  
> Sincerely, totallyKatNep

Everything hurts. It’s like a dull ache that is in all her limbs. Something is pressed up against her lips and pours out of it. She greedily swallows the water that is poured into her dry mouth, followed by soft hands on her forehead.

Opening her eyes, she can only see hazey shapes, like everything is out of focus. But feeling a warmth spread through her, she finds her steadying gaze meeting the gentle eyes of a woman. A woman she doesn’t recognise. The first thing that pops into her head is, is she dead?

“Am I dead?” She asks.

“No, surprisingly not.” The woman replies giving her a warm smile.

She tries to smile back but makes only a small grin. Then something else butts through the warm smile and words; something gruff and stern.

“Jade? Are you awake? Jade?” Oh gods, Karkat. She had totally forgotten about Karkat. Hearing his voice brings her back to the present and over the events that just occurred. The ladder. The bloater. The fall. The spores.

Her mind jolts her awake faster than her body would like and it screams in silent protest as she raises herself up right and swinging her head side to side.

“Jade?” She focuses on Karkat. “Jade, slow down, Jesus. You’ll make it worse for yourself.” He moves over and takes your weight from your muscles by positioning himself behind you and allowing you to lean on him. It feels nice to be against him.

“What happened?” She asks him.

“You were on the ladder and a-” He starts.

“Yes I know that bit. What happened after I blacked out?” She asks insistently.

“Well, I jumped down after you. And pulled you out of the spores and ran into these guys who are apparently going to help us.” He says giving the small group a few faces away a quick glance.

“Why?” She asks.

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe they just want to help because they can?” He shrugs behind you.

She doesn’t reply but instead mulls over the events. She had been on the ladder and she slipped off when the bloater jumped them. Then she fell into the sea of spores. Spores. Why does ring an alarm bell in her head?

Gas mask. She hadn’t been wearing it and had breathed in the spores. She is infected. She is going to die. She panicked and wrenched herself away from Karkat, too quickly and her head spun and she nearly fell over.

“Jade? What the heck is up?” Karkat inquires surprised.

“The spores Karkat! There are spores where I fell. I am infected!” She begins to break down thinking she is on the brink of death.

“Jade calm down! You’re not infected!” Karkat says sternly.

“Don’t fool yourself Karkat! I am. How can I not be?!” She says twisting her head violently in a shake of her head, the movement sending tears flying from the corners of her eyes.

“Jade please.” Karkat says moving closer to her. But she backs away. “Jade…”

He darts forward quickly and grabs her arm and pulls her into an embrace. She struggles to get away from him.

“Karkat stop!” She shouts at him and struggles harder but he holds her tightly and firmly in is arms.

“Karkat, please.” She says quieter. She sobs and buries her face in his shirt. “I don’t want to kill you…”

Karkat’s heart breaks in two. She didn’t want to be near him because if she turned, he would have to kill her or she would kill him. Knowing this, he pulls her closer into him and begins to sway back and forth in a comforting motion.

“Shoosh…” He coos rubbing her back, “It’s okay, I’ve got you.” She brings her tear stained face out from beneath his head and looks up at him. The emotion in her eyes makes him want to join her as a blubbering wreck. But alongside that, there is a doubt that sits heavy on her conscience. “I promised didn’t I?” He smiles warmly down at her and with that she breaks again and begins to blubber her eyes out on his shirt.

Softly he comforts her and himself. He looks up and meets the eyes of the older blond woman. The empathy he sees in her eyes perfectly reflects the emotions he is feeling. She simply smiles at them and turns her back and leaves them in peace.

Let’s get some rest Jade?” He asks at the hair under his chin. A hum is the only answer he gets from the hair so he begins to move her towards the somewhat intact sofa in the corner of the room.

Carefully he pulls her down with him onto the sofa and she crawls herself into him further. He lets her pull herself closer to him and in turn covers her more with his arms. She liked this; him. He smells of safety and feels like security. She likes that about him. But she is still infected, right?

“Karkat…” She starts, her raw voice muffled by his shirt but he stops her with a gentle sh.

“You’re not infected Jade. You are immune, the spores would have killed you by now.” Carefully her mind roles it over. He’s right. Considering how long she had been in them, she would definitely turned by now. Smiling at this she feels sleep take her and her eyelids begin to close blocking out the view of his dark shirt.

 Staying still as he listens as her breathing becomes regular and her body relaxing against him as she drifts into a deep sleep. He leans back into the cushions of the sofa and sighs. He was so tired, he hadn’t realised that until now and now that he did, his eyelids felt heavy. Fighting the sleep away feebly, Karkat finds himself replaying previous events; the loss of Natalie, the finding of Jade, Jade’s torture at the hands of the bastards, the incident with the cleaning and now all of this. Sighing again, Karkat decides maybe sleep is the best place to go. Closing his eyelids he feels his breath regulating.

“May I ask you a question?” Karkat peels his eyes open against his will to look at the woman in front of him.

“Okay, if you must.” He groans.

“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Raising an eyebrow at the woman, Karkat wasn’t fooled, “I merely wanted to know if there was anything either of you needed.”

“Well, right now, I could do with a drink of water and some sleep.” He says grumpily casting his eyes at the sleeping Jade.

“Where is your bag?” The woman asks.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Your bag. Where is it? You must have some water in there, right?”

“Oh, yeah, it’s where I left it when I dropped Jade.”

Without uttering a word more, the woman stands and leaves him in peace. Suddenly it was very quiet; maybe even too quiet. But a sleepy yawn and stretch from the sleeping Jade that left him with one of her arms over face and a hip in his groin, reminded him that he was not alone.

“She looks peaceful.” The woman had returned. He hadn’t seen her approach because of Jade’s arm.

“And awkward.” Karkat says brushing the arm from his face and accepting his canteen from the woman. The woman giggles quietly and smiles warmly at him.

“My name is Rose. Rose Lalonde.” She says offering him her hand.

“Karkat Vantas.” He says shaking the hand firmly.

“You’ll probably want to introduce yourself properly to the others tomorrow since right now you need some sleep.”

“To right I do,” He says but the look on Rose’s face says he hasn’t said enough, “And I’ll introduce myself to the others tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Rose says moving away.

“Thank you too,” He says back, “For helping us.”

“It’s nothing.” She smiles warmly and turns back to the way she was going before disappearing round the corner.

Settling his head back against the sofa, Karkat closes his eyes and with a long breath, drifts into a dreamless sleep.


	16. Rest, Reflect, Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POV: Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another new one for you.

Returning to her small ‘family’, she sighs and sits against a creaky wall. She felt a small finger of warmth travel down her body when she regarded them as a family. Only she and Roxy are related by blood, although she’s fairly certain that, given the amount of time they’ve spent together, John would have popped the question; so to speak.

Almost reading her mind, Dave raises an eyebrow just slightly over the top of his shades. “What you thinking Lalonde?” He questions nonchalantly, “You’ve got the contented face of a dog surrounded by huge bones.” What a way with words the Dave Strider has.

“Oh nothing. Just something to do with John.” Rose replies dozily, lost in thought of the life she and John could share had the world not gone to hell.

“You’re right, you know.” He says flatly snapping Rose out of her thoughts, “He would have done it ages ago.”

Rose knows exactly what he means and she flushes bright red. The pair is distracted by the entrance of Roxy Lalonde into the conversation. “What has to do with John and he would have done what?” She says to Rose. Thank goodness John isn’t present.

“Roxy, how much has Dave told you?” Rose inquires at Dave more than Roxy.

“Nothing much,” She says, “But he did tell me that you and John are still, you know, all lovey dovey.”

Rose feels she can’t keep the truth from her own sister. “Well, Roxy, me and John are together and Dave here was just implying that John would have proposed to me.”

“Way to put it bluntly, Rose.” Dave says.

“No better way to put it.” She says simply.

“Rose Lalonde, Queen of Bluntness.” Dave mulls it over.

“Dave Strider, King of Observation.” Rose replies sarcastically.

“Ow. That sarcasm burned my cool. I’ll go and see if there is any burn ointment in the bags.” With that he stands and leaves Rose and Roxy sitting in the room.

Roxy is looking at Rose with her eyes wide and mouth agape in surprise. “Really?” She questions amazed.

“Don’t be so surprised Roxy, me and John have been together for three years now. You know this.” Rose says surprised that Roxy could have forgotten.

“It’s not like I’d forgotten, more like I-” Rose cuts her off before she can finish.

“I understand.” Rose sooths her suddenly apologetic sister, “You didn’t realise that after all this, we’d still be together.” She pats the floor beside her, beckoning Roxy over to her. She complies but in the teenager reluctance she always used to have. _She seems to be getting back to herself again_ , Rose thinks happily.

Roxy settles on the floor next to Rose and leans on her shoulder, evidently more tired than she thought.

“But here we all are,” Rose continues wrapping an arm around her sister, “One small family amid a world of ruin, with the odds of survival stacked against us. But as a family and with our newest member,” She gives Roxy a slight squeeze which makes the smaller girl blush slightly, “The odds are beginning to be stacked more in our favour.” Roxy gives her sister a warming smile before returning to the shoulder she rest on.

“You’re right. Things are better.” Roxy says quietly, “I’ve found you.”

Without warning, Roxy relaxes against Rose’s shoulder and her breaths even out into a restful state. Smiling, Rose tucks the scarf she was refusing to part with around her thinning shoulders and slender neck before tucking the remaining length behind her head as a cushion against the hard floor and laying her against the floor.

Just then, you realise that John was in the room for the small speech you made. He looks rather emotional again. He smiles down at you and raises his eyebrows with a nod of the head towards Roxy.

“She was very tired.” Rose says, standing to face John. His face only slightly higher than her own.

“She’s really small,” Rose gives him a look, “cute and small, like a child.” John’s tone isn’t one she’s familiar with. She once again gives him a look.

He looks as though he was snapped out of a trance. Shaking his head a tiny bit quickly he looks at Rose with a ‘I’ve forgotten what happened in the past three seconds’ look and she simply raises an eyebrow.

“John, what is up with you?” She questions, waving a hand in front of his face watching as he flinches as she snaps him out of another trance like state.

“Hmm?”

“John, you spaced out twice in the space of thirty seconds. You feeling okay?” She raises a hand to place it against his forehead but he shakes his head.

“I feel fine.” He slows to a stop again before continuing quietly, “I was just thinking.”

“About my sister?” Rose questions carefully.

“No. About you, me; about everyone.” He stares into space. “I was thinking how everything would be different if this whole thing hadn’t happened.” Rose is about to say something when he continues, “We wouldn’t have to be on the move all the time. We could settle down, start a family, be a family and everyone would be happy. Not inside a stripped out hospital wondering when death will come to us.” Rose eyes widen as he speaks, not only is this very surprising coming from John but also he mentioned starting a family.

 _Pull yourself together Lalonde!_ she mentally scalds herself, when she realised that John had mentioned some heavy stuff and all she’d heard was ‘start a family’.

“John, we could settle down, start a family,” She waggles her eyebrows at him on this line and he goes slightly red in the face, “we can go somewhere where there aren’t any zombies and do just that. As for being a family, isn’t that what we’ve been doing for the past two years?” She looks at John sternly and he flinches under the look.

“That’s not what I meant.” He stammers.

“Well what did you mean-” Rose is cut short by the appearance of John’s lips against hers. She gives up the line she hadn’t been able to finish before she had become otherwise occupied. She enjoys the kiss for a few seconds before John breaks it.

“You know John, Dave will be back soon.” She says slyly. But John being John didn’t quite catch the double meaning.

“Where did he go?” He questions looking puzzled.

“To get some burn ointment.” She says dismissively.

“Why would he need that?” He really isn’t paying attention to the double meanings.

“No John, he went to nurse his ‘damaged’ cool after I ‘hurt’ it.” She says.

“Huh.” Is all he says, “Sounds like Dave.” John turns back to Rose who has settled next to Roxy again. He thinks for a few seconds about nothing in particular before deciding he should probably go and sit down. Walking over to the pair of Lalondes, he plants himself down beside Rose and pulls himself around her and Roxy. Rose’s mind lights with recognition as she realises why John spaced out earlier when he looked at Roxy. He’s gained a parental protectiveness over Roxy. Carefully she turns to John over her shoulder.

“John?” She questions.

“Yeah?”

“I understand.”

“Understand what?” He asks back confused.

“What you said ealier. You feel it, don’t you?” Rose questions.

“Huh?” He replies.

“You’re getting parentally protective over Roxy.” Rose states.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He says pulling them tighter into himself.

“Ow. John, lose the squeeze for a moment,” he does and Rose shifts the bony elbow from her side, “There, now you can squeeze us to death.” You can feel him smile into your shoulder and his force increases slightly to a comforting pressure. She can feel fatigue tearing at her mind. She lets it start to take hold. Feeling the world drifting away, Rose begins to reflect on all that happened in the two years.

\-------Two Years Previously-------

 “John! Hurry up!” Dave calls over to the taller dark haired boy. John may have been an on and off rugby player, but he wasn’t faster than the athletically build Dave but certainly faster than the shorter blonde with the book worm legs as she called them. Dave had to snide at that but as it turned out, it wasn’t fat really, it was power; or so she told herself. She drew a deep breath to catch some oxygen as her lungs burned in her chest.

“Com’on Rose! John, on your right!” Dave called over to John as the zombie aimed to collide with his right side. John heeded the warning and dropped the shoulder, as the years of rugby training taught and with his well-built size, sent the zombie sprawling with the blow as John rammed his way through.

“Cheers.” His thanks was breathy and short.

“Run, run, run!” Dave yelled in encouragement. He needn’t have. The zombies chasing them were encouragement enough.

“I can’t keep this up much longer!” Rose breathed at herself between heavy breaths.

That was when the target made itself visible and Dave reacted by shouting his encouragements to the pair behind him.

The building looms closer and closer threatening to swallow them whole.

_“Rose! Rose! Rose, wake up!”_

That’s not how it went, oh well, and the memory fast forwards a few month to the pharmacy incident.

“John? What have you got there?” Rose peers over her shoulder, and instantly regrets it.

John is holding a packet of twelve condoms. He looks up and catches Rose’s eyes and they both go bright red.

“You two look like a pair of virgins at the first mention of sex.” Dave chirps from nearby. They both break the eye contact.

“You know,” John started, “we could put these to use.” John suggests. You hear Dave making noises like he was going throwing up. You’d care if you knew it wasn’t a trick.

“I like your thinking.” Rose replies slyly and John smirks and goes a little redder.

“BLUGH!” Dave’s vomiting noises sound again and there is splattering as something hits the floor. “Seriously! You two are doing this now!” He sounds indignified.

“Shut up Dave!” They both call at the same time.

“Wow. Geez guys.” He raises both hands in mock surrender and leaves the room.

_“ROSE! ROSE WAKE UP!” The world shakes violently._

The dream continues and she replays the first little bit of meeting Roxy when…

**_“ROSE LALONDE YOU WAKE YOUR FAT ARSE UP THIS ISNTANT!!!!!!”_ **

Rose’s eyes snap open and she is immediately surrounded by a flurry of movement.

A groggy mind turns as she works out what is going on. Roxy stands within swathes of swarming people. Kind of reminds you of the concert the two of you attended a year or so before the extinction started.

_ZOMBIES! Get your arse off the floor!_

Within seconds she up and on her feet, machete collected from the ground by her feet.

She charges the nearest zombie and decapitates it before slicing the arm of the next and performing a graceful spin she buries the blade into its heart with a backward stab before wrenching the blade free and countering the blow of the next attacker in the process. There are a lot of them aren’t there.

“Dave!” She calls over the noise.

“Present!” He replies.

“John?!” She calls.

“Here!” He replies breathily.

“Where are Karkat and Jade?” She asks splitting a zombie from head to groin and kicking the halves out of the way, its guts and internals trailing behind each severed half. She barely notices and she carves the next one similarly but from groin to neck before pulling the blade free and flinching slightly as its blood ejects from the wound onto her clean-ish clothes.

“We’re here!” She hears the unmistakable voice of Karkat over the zombies.

Good they are all here. Maybe when they finish this off, they can deal with the little things.

“Fuck this!” Dave’s call finds its way to her ears and she risks a glance over to see that Dave has drawn nothing short of his flamethrower which he proceeds to cake the runners in burning petrol and other volatile chemicals. The smoke begins to fill the room and the risk to the group is large but the dry, cracked flesh of the infected mixed with the fluidity inside them turns the infected in over-ripe grapes bursting under the heat. It’s actually rather clever really, the heat boils the blood under the skin and causes the water to turn to steam greatly increasing the pressure inside the body and causing it to burst. She muses a little longer as a decapitated head is propelled past her shoulder by the force of a muffled explosion that is no doubt the work of the infamous John Egbert.

It gives her a room for thinking. Heat seems to be a good weapon against them. The dry dehydrated skin of the infected goes up like petrol soaked kindling. She decides to muse on it later.

“Everyone, out the door! Go!” A gruff harsh voice calls indicating the retreat from within the now burning building. “That includes you Lalonde! Fucking move!”

“Of course Karkat.” She mumbles under her breath careful not to breathe the thick clingy black smoke.

Bursting out into the street heralds the relief of fresh air. Oh how she’d missed it. Breathing deeply the group recovers and she can see that Dave is grinning like a madman. Oh how she’d like to give him a piece of her mind.

“We’re not done yet.” John says indicating a small group of clickers that amble toward them.

Tired, the group ready to fight them but a series of loud bangs fill the street and the group of clickers drops to the ground. Roxy stands smoke forming a wispy trail from the barrel of her automatic rifle that Rose has no idea how she got hold of.

“Okaaaaaaaaay…” Dave says, “The chick can shoot. Now we run.”

And run they did but only enough to lose the small number of followers they had gained.

Panting and wheezing for breath the group comes to a halt in front of a gutted building with a half broken sign.

“Seriously? Heddon Street Kitchen? I loved that restaurant.” Dave pouts and kicks a stone on the ground that was harder than it looked and he yelps hopping back and shaking his foot. Roxy manages a laugh despite the lack of breath.

“We need to find a new place to stay the night. “ John says.

“No duh dimwit.” Karkat says sarcastically before he is swatted by a back hand from Jade.

“Karkat. Rude.” The normally gruff Karkat disappears and he apologises sincerely to which John chuckles and Karkat sticks his middle finger up and lazily ducks under Jade’s swing who is giggling too much to put any effort behind it.

Rose, Dave and Roxy meanwhile are searching the buildings lining the street which Dave and Rose knew instinctively to be Regent Street.

Roxy peers into the building opposite the blown out building and calls Dave and Rose over. Of course everyone naturally comes over out of curiosity. Inside there is a barricaded doorway that looks untouched. Human curiosity got the better of Roxy and she moves forward to the door and pushes against it. When it doesn’t budge, Rose called Roxy back and John moves to cover her but then the door swings open and a small round canister falls out of the ceiling landing between Roxy’s feet.

“Grenade!” John yells and dives for the street. Caught like a deer in the headlights Roxy is frozen and as everyone leaps for the street, she stands there and blinks. There is a fizz and a pop and then silence, silence that hangs heavily and could be cut with a knife.

Carefully those on the floor rise to their feet and turn to see Roxy standing there canister between her feet and unmoving.

“Roxy…” Rose starts and Roxy jerks and turns sharply. All caution aside, John walks to Roxy and gently eases her out of the way before kneeling and examining the canister. The moment John touches Roxy; she darts out of the building and throws herself at Rose; who catches her just in time.

“You got lucky.” John explains, “This thing must be ancient because the powder inside is all but dissolved into an inert paste.”

“I thought the worst…” Roxy mutters into Rose’s shirt.

“We all did.” She sighs gripping her a little tighter, “We were all wrong.” She smiles.

“It’s fairly safe inside,” Dave says to no one inparticular, “warm, dry and zombie free.” Leading Karkat and Jade followed by John into the building leaving Rose and Roxy outside. That doesn’t last long as the pair quickly makes it in the door and up the stairs.


	17. Rose Lalonde: Think family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a shy five days off of the set date but I was in New York! And since I'm a Englander (Old, not New) that's a pretty big deal! But anyways, here's your chapter!

Returning to her small ‘family’, she sighs and sits against a creaky wall. She felt a small finger of warmth travel down her body when she regarded them as a family. Only she and Roxy are related by blood, although she’s fairly certain that, given the amount of time they’ve spent together, John would have popped the question; so to speak.

Almost reading her mind, Dave raises an eyebrow just slightly over the top of his shades. “What you thinking Lalonde?” He questions nonchalantly, “You’ve got the contented face of a dog surrounded by huge bones.” What a way with words the Dave Strider has.

“Oh nothing. Just something to do with John.” Rose replies dozily, lost in thought of the life she and John could share had the world not gone to hell.

“You’re right, you know.” He says flatly snapping Rose out of her thoughts, “He would have done it ages ago.”

Rose knows exactly what he means and she flushes bright red. The pair is distracted by the entrance of Roxy Lalonde into the conversation. “What has to do with John and he would have done what?” She says to Rose. Thank goodness John isn’t present.

“Roxy, how much has Dave told you?” Rose inquires at Dave more than Roxy.

“Nothing much,” She says, “But he did tell me that you and John are still, you know, all lovey dovey.”

Rose feels she can’t keep the truth from her own sister. “Well, Roxy, me and John are together and Dave here was just implying that John would have proposed to me.”

“Way to put it bluntly, Rose.” Dave says.

“No better way to put it.” She says simply.

“Rose Lalonde, Queen of Bluntness.” Dave mulls it over.

“Dave Strider, King of Observation.” Rose replies sarcastically.

“Ow. That sarcasm burned my cool. I’ll go and see if there is any burn ointment in the bags.” With that he stands and leaves Rose and Roxy sitting in the room.

Roxy is looking at Rose with her eyes wide and mouth agape in surprise. “Really?” She questions amazed.

“Don’t be so surprised Roxy, me and John have been together for three years now. You know this.” Rose says surprised that Roxy could have forgotten.

“It’s not like I’d forgotten, more like I-” Rose cuts her off before she can finish.

“I understand.” Rose sooths her suddenly apologetic sister, “You didn’t realise that after all this, we’d still be together.” She pats the floor beside her, beckoning Roxy over to her. She complies but in the teenager reluctance she always used to have. _She seems to be getting back to herself again_ , Rose thinks happily.

Roxy settles on the floor next to Rose and leans on her shoulder, evidently more tired than she thought.

“But here we all are,” Rose continues wrapping an arm around her sister, “One small family amid a world of ruin, with the odds of survival stacked against us. But as a family and with our newest member,” She gives Roxy a slight squeeze which makes the smaller girl blush slightly, “The odds are beginning to be stacked more in our favour.” Roxy gives her sister a warming smile before returning to the shoulder she rest on.

“You’re right. Things are better.” Roxy says quietly, “I’ve found you.”

Without warning, Roxy relaxes against Rose’s shoulder and her breaths even out into a restful state. Smiling, Rose tucks the scarf she was refusing to part with around her thinning shoulders and slender neck before tucking the remaining length behind her head as a cushion against the hard floor and laying her against the floor.

Just then, you realise that John was in the room for the small speech you made. He looks rather emotional again. He smiles down at you and raises his eyebrows with a nod of the head towards Roxy.

“She was very tired.” Rose says, standing to face John. His face only slightly higher than her own.

“She’s really small,” Rose gives him a look, “cute and small, like a child.” John’s tone isn’t one she’s familiar with. She once again gives him a look.

He looks as though he was snapped out of a trance. Shaking his head a tiny bit quickly he looks at Rose with a ‘I’ve forgotten what happened in the past three seconds’ look and she simply raises an eyebrow.

“John, what is up with you?” She questions, waving a hand in front of his face watching as he flinches as she snaps him out of another trance like state.

“Hmm?”

“John, you spaced out twice in the space of thirty seconds. You feeling okay?” She raises a hand to place it against his forehead but he shakes his head.

“I feel fine.” He slows to a stop again before continuing quietly, “I was just thinking.”

“About my sister?” Rose questions carefully.

“No. About you, me; about everyone.” He stares into space. “I was thinking how everything would be different if this whole thing hadn’t happened.” Rose is about to say something when he continues, “We wouldn’t have to be on the move all the time. We could settle down, start a family, be a family and everyone would be happy. Not inside a stripped out hospital wondering when death will come to us.” Rose eyes widen as he speaks, not only is this very surprising coming from John but also he mentioned starting a family.

 _Pull yourself together Lalonde!_ she mentally scalds herself, when she realised that John had mentioned some heavy stuff and all she’d heard was ‘start a family’.

“John, we could settle down, start a family,” She waggles her eyebrows at him on this line and he goes slightly red in the face, “we can go somewhere where there aren’t any zombies and do just that. As for being a family, isn’t that what we’ve been doing for the past two years?” She looks at John sternly and he flinches under the look.

“That’s not what I meant.” He stammers.

“Well what did you mean-” Rose is cut short by the appearance of John’s lips against hers. She gives up the line she hadn’t been able to finish before she had become otherwise occupied. She enjoys the kiss for a few seconds before John breaks it.

“You know John, Dave will be back soon.” She says slyly. But John being John didn’t quite catch the double meaning.

“Where did he go?” He questions looking puzzled.

“To get some burn ointment.” She says dismissively.

“Why would he need that?” He really isn’t paying attention to the double meanings.

“No John, he went to nurse his ‘damaged’ cool after I ‘hurt’ it.” She says.

“Huh.” Is all he says, “Sounds like Dave.” John turns back to Rose who has settled next to Roxy again. He thinks for a few seconds about nothing in particular before deciding he should probably go and sit down. Walking over to the pair of Lalondes, he plants himself down beside Rose and pulls himself around her and Roxy. Rose’s mind lights with recognition as she realises why John spaced out earlier when he looked at Roxy. He’s gained a parental protectiveness over Roxy. Carefully she turns to John over her shoulder.

“John?” She questions.

“Yeah?”

“I understand.”

“Understand what?” He asks back confused.

“What you said ealier. You feel it, don’t you?” Rose questions.

“Huh?” He replies.

“You’re getting parentally protective over Roxy.” Rose states.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He says pulling them tighter into himself.

“Ow. John, lose the squeeze for a moment,” he does and Rose shifts the bony elbow from her side, “There, now you can squeeze us to death.” You can feel him smile into your shoulder and his force increases slightly to a comforting pressure. She can feel fatigue tearing at her mind. She lets it start to take hold. Feeling the world drifting away, Rose begins to reflect on all that happened in the two years.

\-------Two Years Previously-------

 “John! Hurry up!” Dave calls over to the taller dark haired boy. John may have been an on and off rugby player, but he wasn’t faster than the athletically build Dave but certainly faster than the shorter blonde with the book worm legs as she called them. Dave had to snide at that but as it turned out, it wasn’t fat really, it was power; or so she told herself. She drew a deep breath to catch some oxygen as her lungs burned in her chest.

“Com’on Rose! John, on your right!” Dave called over to John as the zombie aimed to collide with his right side. John heeded the warning and dropped the shoulder, as the years of rugby training taught and with his well-built size, sent the zombie sprawling with the blow as John rammed his way through.

“Cheers.” His thanks was breathy and short.

“Run, run, run!” Dave yelled in encouragement. He needn’t have. The zombies chasing them were encouragement enough.

“I can’t keep this up much longer!” Rose breathed at herself between heavy breaths.

That was when the target made itself visible and Dave reacted by shouting his encouragements to the pair behind him.

The building looms closer and closer threatening to swallow them whole.

_“Rose! Rose! Rose, wake up!”_

That’s not how it went, oh well, and the memory fast forwards a few month to the pharmacy incident.

“John? What have you got there?” Rose peers over her shoulder, and instantly regrets it.

John is holding a packet of twelve condoms. He looks up and catches Rose’s eyes and they both go bright red.

“You two look like a pair of virgins at the first mention of sex.” Dave chirps from nearby. They both break the eye contact.

“You know,” John started, “we could put these to use.” John suggests. You hear Dave making noises like he was going throwing up. You’d care if you knew it wasn’t a trick.

“I like your thinking.” Rose replies slyly and John smirks and goes a little redder.

“BLUGH!” Dave’s vomiting noises sound again and there is splattering as something hits the floor. “Seriously! You two are doing this now!” He sounds indignified.

“Shut up Dave!” They both call at the same time.

“Wow. Geez guys.” He raises both hands in mock surrender and leaves the room.

_“ROSE! ROSE WAKE UP!” The world shakes violently._

The dream continues and she replays the first little bit of meeting Roxy when…

**_“ROSE LALONDE YOU WAKE YOUR FAT ARSE UP THIS ISNTANT!!!!!!”_ **

Rose’s eyes snap open and she is immediately surrounded by a flurry of movement.

A groggy mind turns as she works out what is going on. Roxy stands within swathes of swarming people. Kind of reminds you of the concert the two of you attended a year or so before the extinction started.

_ZOMBIES! Get your arse off the floor!_

Within seconds she up and on her feet, machete collected from the ground by her feet.

She charges the nearest zombie and decapitates it before slicing the arm of the next and performing a graceful spin she buries the blade into its heart with a backward stab before wrenching the blade free and countering the blow of the next attacker in the process. There are a lot of them aren’t there.

“Dave!” She calls over the noise.

“Present!” He replies.

“John?!” She calls.

“Here!” He replies breathily.

“Where are Karkat and Jade?” She asks splitting a zombie from head to groin and kicking the halves out of the way, its guts and internals trailing behind each severed half. She barely notices and she carves the next one similarly but from groin to neck before pulling the blade free and flinching slightly as its blood ejects from the wound onto her clean-ish clothes.

“We’re here!” She hears the unmistakable voice of Karkat over the zombies.

Good they are all here. Maybe when they finish this off, they can deal with the little things.

“Fuck this!” Dave’s call finds its way to her ears and she risks a glance over to see that Dave has drawn nothing short of his flamethrower which he proceeds to cake the runners in burning petrol and other volatile chemicals. The smoke begins to fill the room and the risk to the group is large but the dry, cracked flesh of the infected mixed with the fluidity inside them turns the infected in over-ripe grapes bursting under the heat. It’s actually rather clever really, the heat boils the blood under the skin and causes the water to turn to steam greatly increasing the pressure inside the body and causing it to burst. She muses a little longer as a decapitated head is propelled past her shoulder by the force of a muffled explosion that is no doubt the work of the infamous John Egbert.

It gives her a room for thinking. Heat seems to be a good weapon against them. The dry dehydrated skin of the infected goes up like petrol soaked kindling. She decides to muse on it later.

“Everyone, out the door! Go!” A gruff harsh voice calls indicating the retreat from within the now burning building. “That includes you Lalonde! Fucking move!”

“Of course Karkat.” She mumbles under her breath careful not to breathe the thick clingy black smoke.

Bursting out into the street heralds the relief of fresh air. Oh how she’d missed it. Breathing deeply the group recovers and she can see that Dave is grinning like a madman. Oh how she’d like to give him a piece of her mind.

“We’re not done yet.” John says indicating a small group of clickers that amble toward them.

Tired, the group ready to fight them but a series of loud bangs fill the street and the group of clickers drops to the ground. Roxy stands smoke forming a wispy trail from the barrel of her automatic rifle that Rose has no idea how she got hold of.

“Okaaaaaaaaay…” Dave says, “The chick can shoot. Now we run.”

And run they did but only enough to lose the small number of followers they had gained.

Panting and wheezing for breath the group comes to a halt in front of a gutted building with a half broken sign.

“Seriously? Heddon Street Kitchen? I loved that restaurant.” Dave pouts and kicks a stone on the ground that was harder than it looked and he yelps hopping back and shaking his foot. Roxy manages a laugh despite the lack of breath.

“We need to find a new place to stay the night. “ John says.

“No duh dimwit.” Karkat says sarcastically before he is swatted by a back hand from Jade.

“Karkat. Rude.” The normally gruff Karkat disappears and he apologises sincerely to which John chuckles and Karkat sticks his middle finger up and lazily ducks under Jade’s swing who is giggling too much to put any effort behind it.

Rose, Dave and Roxy meanwhile are searching the buildings lining the street which Dave and Rose knew instinctively to be Regent Street.

Roxy peers into the building opposite the blown out building and calls Dave and Rose over. Of course everyone naturally comes over out of curiosity. Inside there is a barricaded doorway that looks untouched. Human curiosity got the better of Roxy and she moves forward to the door and pushes against it. When it doesn’t budge, Rose called Roxy back and John moves to cover her but then the door swings open and a small round canister falls out of the ceiling landing between Roxy’s feet.

“Grenade!” John yells and dives for the street. Caught like a deer in the headlights Roxy is frozen and as everyone leaps for the street, she stands there and blinks. There is a fizz and a pop and then silence, silence that hangs heavily and could be cut with a knife.

Carefully those on the floor rise to their feet and turn to see Roxy standing there canister between her feet and unmoving.

“Roxy…” Rose starts and Roxy jerks and turns sharply. All caution aside, John walks to Roxy and gently eases her out of the way before kneeling and examining the canister. The moment John touches Roxy; she darts out of the building and throws herself at Rose; who catches her just in time.

“You got lucky.” John explains, “This thing must be ancient because the powder inside is all but dissolved into an inert paste.”

“I thought the worst…” Roxy mutters into Rose’s shirt.

“We all did.” She sighs gripping her a little tighter, “We were all wrong.” She smiles.

“It’s fairly safe inside,” Dave says to no one inparticular, “warm, dry and zombie free.” Leading Karkat and Jade followed by John into the building leaving Rose and Roxy outside. That doesn’t last long as the pair quickly makes it in the door and up the stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> Please, please, pleeeeaaaase leave comments and kudos if you enjoyed reading. This will ensure that future chapters will be written and published. I would also like to know what you think or if you have any suggestions that you would like me to write about.  
> Thanks, totallyKatNep


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